A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article fifteen, chapter
twenty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the disposal of
yard waste by owners or tenants on private property.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article fifteen, chapter twenty-two of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 15. SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT ACT.

§22-15-3. Special provision for wood waste; yard waste.

(a) The purpose of this section is to allow for the combustion
of wood waste without a solid waste facility permit and to allow
facilities to use wood waste as an alternative fuel and to provide
for the proper collection and disposal of yard waste generated by
residents and tenants who own private property in residential areas
or rural areas of the state.
(b) "Wood waste" means wood residues from logging operations,
sawmills, wood product manufacturing, furniture making operations,
recycling of wood products and other industrial processes, but does
not include wood waste which contains hazardous constituents,
including copper chromium arsenate, which would cause such wood
waste to be regulated pursuant to article eighteen of this chapter.
(c) "Yard waste" means grass clippings, weeds, leaves, brush,
garden waste, shrub or tree prunings and other living or dead plant
tissues, except that, such materials which, due to inadvertent
contamination or mixture with other substances which render the
waste unsuitable for composting, shall not be considered to be yard
waste: Provided, That the same or similar waste generated by
commercial agricultural enterprises is excluded.
(d) For purposes of section two of this article and section
two, article four, chapter twenty-two-c of this code:
(1) Wood waste and yard waste are not "solid waste" unless
disposed of at a solid waste facility.
(2) Wood waste is a material which may be used as an effective
substitute for commercial products or raw material feedstock.
(e) The use of incineration technologies in an energy recovery
incinerator for the purposes of combusting wood waste is not
prohibited and no solid waste facility permit is required. The
provisions of this section do not allow the combustion of wood waste without a source permit from the director if such permit is
required by article five of this chapter or the rules promulgated
under the provisions of said article.
(f) Yard waste, as described in subsections (a) and (c) of
this section, may be disposed of in a manner consistent with one or
any combination of the following:
(1) Disposal in a publicly or privately operated commercial or
noncommercial composting facility.
(2) Disposal by composting on the property from which domestic
yard waste is generated disposal on adjoining property or
neighborhood property if consent is obtained from the owner of the
adjoining or neighborhood property.
(3) Disposed of by open burning where such activity is not
prohibited by this code, rules promulgated hereunder or municipal
or county codes or ordinances.
(4) Disposed of in a publicly or privately operated landfill,
only where none of the foregoing options are available. Such
manner of disposal will involve only small quantities of domestic
yard waste generated only from the property of the participating
resident or tenant.
(g) The rules promulgated pursuant to section eight, article
eleven, chapter twenty of this code will be amended by the division
of environmental protection to faithfully and accurately reflect the intent and purpose of this section regarding the disposal of
yard waste.
(h) The division may promulgate legislative rules, in
accordance with the provisions of chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code, to effectuate the purposes of this section.